 
Hamtragedy
Member
Username: Hamtragedy
Post Number: 108
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, March 06, 2008 - 11:52 pm: |    |
It's Hamtramck Blowout weekend, I was just walking the dog, and I noticed what I thought was the familiar "Red Adray Trolley," except this one was bigger, like the full size "trolley buses" that DDOT ran on Woodward earlier this decade.
I've noticed the yard at E. Warren & I-75 is (or was) packed with these trolleys for the last several years, and I NEVER see them on the street.
What happened with them? Were they all obsolete within two years? How much did the city spend on them, and how many did they buy? And whose dimwitted idea was this?
(With my apologies to the DSR buffs who thought this might be a "fun" thread) |
Jenniferl
Member
Username: Jenniferl
Post Number: 426
Registered: 03-2004
| | Posted on Friday, March 07, 2008 - 1:27 am: | |
I don't know what happened to the trolley buses. But I thought they were cute and I would like to see them back on the streets. |
Danny
Member
Username: Danny
Post Number: 7171
Registered: 02-2004
| | Posted on Friday, March 07, 2008 - 7:03 am: | |
Those D-DOT trolly busses are lined up at the Shoemaker Termimal in E. Warren and I-75 never to used until any special event comes in. |
Nainrouge
Member
Username: Nainrouge
Post Number: 949
Registered: 05-2006
| | Posted on Friday, March 07, 2008 - 8:44 am: | |
There was an auction of Trolley buses a while back. |
Bob
Member
Username: Bob
Post Number: 1706
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Friday, March 07, 2008 - 9:03 am: | |
They used them to transport people from the New Center Amtrak station to Comerica Park when the Tiger's did the Foxtown Tigers Train. |
Bc_n_dtown
Member
Username: Bc_n_dtown
Post Number: 57
Registered: 09-2006
| | Posted on Friday, March 07, 2008 - 1:14 pm: | |
Hamtragedy,
There were 25 of those rubber-tire "bus-trolleys" in total and fleets were purchased by DDOT in both 1998 and 2000. The chance of seeing them on the streets of Detroit again are probably slim to none, since they've basically been retired since June of 2004 (However, they were used briefly for Detroit Tiger ball game shuttles back during the 2006 season). DDOT has tried to sell them and auction them off numerous times, but so far no takers. So they just basically sit "retired" at the east side terminal.
They were unique to DDOT in that they weren't regular diesel powered vehicles like the rest of the DDOT fleet, but were alternative fuel vehicles powered by compressed natural gas (CNG). And therein lies part of the problem and reason for their early demise.
According to former DDOT director Norman White, they were too expensive to operate. Original plans called for DDOT to operate its own compressed natural gas facility to fuel the vehicles, but since those plans fell through they had to be fueled at another location off property, resulting in unnecessary operational costs. Since they couldn't be stored at the regular bus garages, getting operators to those buses often posed headaches for the terminal staff, especially when extra-board "substitute" operators had to be used.
In the beginning, most of the CNG trolleys sat idle, used primarily for a few mini-bus routes and shuttles for special downtown events. However, during their last year or so of service DDOT was sort of forced to use them in regular line-haul service and were often assigned to other smaller lines such as Woodrow Wilson, Meyers and Holbrook. Although a few operators like them, most didn't—felt they were a waste of money, had numerous blind-spots, and were glad to see them go. They weren't designed for regular transit operation, but were more so a tourist attraction vehicle.
From my understanding, a former DDOT director during the Archer administration decided to purchase an additional eleven (11) during the year 2000 to provide shuttle buses in anticipation of the closing of the old Cadillac Square Transit Center in 2001. The total fleet (25) were to serve as shuttle buses to transport passengers from the future Times Square Transit Center, which many critics felt was too far removed from the core downtown area. But since the transit center took years to get off the ground (and still isn't completed), the CNG trolleys were then used for other purposes. |
Upinottawa
Member
Username: Upinottawa
Post Number: 1073
Registered: 09-2005
| | Posted on Friday, March 07, 2008 - 1:43 pm: | |
Did the Foxtown Tigers train run in 2007? |
Professorscott
Member
Username: Professorscott
Post Number: 1159
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Friday, March 07, 2008 - 1:48 pm: | |
Good info BC. Nobody currently has any plans for frequent shuttle service between RPTC and downtown when it finally opens, do they? I guess they are expecting people to use the People Mover, which we system-bus-pass holders absolutely never use. |
Detroitnerd
Member
Username: Detroitnerd
Post Number: 2004
Registered: 07-2004
| | Posted on Friday, March 07, 2008 - 3:37 pm: | |
Boy, I sure am glad we got a whole FOUR TO SIX YEARS of use out of those buses. |
Johnlodge
Member
Username: Johnlodge
Post Number: 5519
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Friday, March 07, 2008 - 3:51 pm: | |
Lets pitch in to buy one, and make it the DetroitYES tour bus. We can drive Ray around when he comes to town. |
Detroitnerd
Member
Username: Detroitnerd
Post Number: 2005
Registered: 07-2004
| | Posted on Friday, March 07, 2008 - 3:52 pm: | |
Let Trainman drive! |
Johnlodge
Member
Username: Johnlodge
Post Number: 5520
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Friday, March 07, 2008 - 3:55 pm: | |
Now you're thinking! |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 2833
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Friday, March 07, 2008 - 5:37 pm: | |
Mark "Dexter" on the front and Jjaba will join us.  |
Bob
Member
Username: Bob
Post Number: 1709
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Friday, March 07, 2008 - 7:50 pm: | |
I don't think they operated the Foxtown Tigers Train in 2007. |
Karl_jr
Member
Username: Karl_jr
Post Number: 220
Registered: 06-2007
| | Posted on Friday, March 07, 2008 - 8:41 pm: | |
Them babies are history and are gonna go CHEAP!
P.S. Warren & I-75 are the central shops, not Shoemaker or the eastside terminal.
(Message edited by karl jr. on March 07, 2008) |
Living_in_the_d
Member
Username: Living_in_the_d
Post Number: 123
Registered: 01-2008
| | Posted on Friday, March 07, 2008 - 9:33 pm: | |
Yeah, Alas, Karl jr. speaks the truth. |
Hamtragedy
Member
Username: Hamtragedy
Post Number: 110
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, March 09, 2008 - 1:29 pm: | |
Like I said, I saw one, with a fresh coat of red paint, picking up and dropping off drunk folk for the Hamtramck Blowout.
Great longevity for these, eh? |
Living_in_the_d
Member
Username: Living_in_the_d
Post Number: 127
Registered: 01-2008
| | Posted on Sunday, March 09, 2008 - 1:36 pm: | |
Yeah, Free enterprise Trolleys, Not from D.D.O.T. |